US Sanctions Iranian Crypto Exchange for Facilitating IRGC Transactions

The US Treasury has sanctioned another cryptocurrency exchange, BitBank, for allegedly facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin transactions to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also designated BitBank's software developer and three associates of Babak Zanjani, who is already on the US sanctions list. According to OFAC, Zanjani routed hundreds of millions of dollars in Bitcoin to the IRGC through BitBank between June and July.

Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has also been designated for passing payments to the regime through BitBank since June. The sanctions also extend to Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, which is the developer of BitBank's digital assets software. Three Dot One executives have also landed on the list, including Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, who brokered digital asset transactions that reached the IRGC.

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent framed the action as a warning to anyone financing Tehran: 'Today's designations of Iranian digital asset infrastructure make perfectly clear that efforts to finance the Iranian regime using cryptocurrencies are not beyond OFAC's reach. If you support the Iranian regime, the Department of the Treasury will sanction you.'

The sanctions come as part of a broader campaign to disrupt Iran's access to cryptocurrency and other financial systems. The US has previously sanctioned exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether over IRGC-linked transfers and has declared Iran's digital asset sector sanctionable in full.